


The Cyberse Sea

by tasteslikeciel



Series: Three Words: An MMO Datastorm AU [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Gen, M/M, Slow Burn, i know i know stop making aus sery, mmo/rpg terms, well i can't LOL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 07:54:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15335319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tasteslikeciel/pseuds/tasteslikeciel
Summary: Link VRAINS is a massively popular MMO known and loved by players all over the world. Fujiki Yusaku, a 16-year-old from Japan, plays under the handle known as Playmaker, a Beast Tamer who became a legend for taming the elusive Firewall Dragon. When a strange new area called The Cyberse Sea is released in a system update, Yusaku sets out to explore but runs into trouble.However, he's rescued by a mysterious Gunner named Revolver, who takes a liking to him...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay listen I know I have like 50 other aus I need to write for but in my defense. in. my. defense! i've been planning and thinking about this au since the anime started, like way back when Ryoken didn't even have a name. like my notes for this au still have him listed as "Revolver". that's how old this is lol
> 
> and i finally, finally, got around to actually writing for it! i'm really glad. i really love this au and i hope you'll like it too! but it's okay if it's not your thing. i'm catering to myself very strongly here. lol this is highly self-indulgent.
> 
> originally, i was going to post this up as one whole thing. and atm i have 13k+ words written and it's still not done lol but the longer it got, the more concerned i got about it being a chore to read. like i'm the kind of person who will sit down and read a single 20k+ oneshot in one sitting, but not everyone is like that so. i'm breaking it up into 4 pieces to fit the four long scenes i have for this.
> 
> also, while this is ultimately a datestorm au, it's also a lot more than that. i have a whole lot planned for this au and other characters will play a big role, particularly characters like Aoi and Takeru and Go. it's just. it's a really big project and at this point in time i don't know how many parts the au will have in total, but it will have quite a few.
> 
> anyway, sorry for this long note. carry on!

Thunderous booms and crackles of static splinter the air as the earth shakes underneath his feet. Past crumbling stone walls, through kicked up dust, and across collapsing marble flooring, he runs like he's forgotten how to stop, lungs searing in pain as his pants grow louder with every desperate sprint he forces himself to take. His muscles scream for rest and his erratic heartbeat pleads for serenity, but if he stops, even for a moment, he knows it'll be game over and his whole mission will be forfeit. That's not something he's willing to accept, no matter how much he's beginning to regret doing this alone.   
  
_'Where is it? One of these rooms must have the treasure it's guarding.'_   
  
He doesn't know how long he's been running, but the threat of electrocution pumps enough adrenaline through his veins to keep him going no matter how badly he wants to stop. He can barely find the energy to think past his current plan of run and fire, run and fire. He needs a way out, needs a proper escape plan, but at this rate he won’t be able to think of one. In any case, this temple doesn't seem to have an exit to begin with. He knows the entrance was nearby, somewhere, at some point, but it vanished like it had never been there at all.

If he could just find the right room... If he could just find some place to rest...  
  
_'There must be somewhere I can hide. I can't run like this forever.'_ _  
_  
So far there's nothing. Not a small alcove he can duck into or barrier room he can recover in. And he's only becoming more and more lost as time passes. The map to this place is unreliable, constantly swapping passageways and making rooms disappear. It’s as if the entire temple is rearranging itself. What's more, the map fizzled out a long time ago. More specifically when the guardian beast that watches over this temple began to chase him. The map became unusable then. He's well aware of how difficult this area is. He did his research well in advance. But, he isn't sure if the map disintegrating on him was a nasty bug or an annoying feature.  
  
A ghastly screech like a mixture of electricity buzzing and anguished sobbing echoes from the chamber he dashes out of. It bubbles up from the darkness and spills into the open hallway, wailing and wailing _and_ _wailing_ until it trails off into a pitiful squeak. It's so sudden and loud and _a lot closer than it should have been_ that against his better judgment, he chances a peek over his shoulder.  
  
At first, he sees nothing but grey stone and off-white, dirty marble, but then another shriek sounds mixed in with a distinctive mighty roar and out of nowhere a large mass of bleeding, golden scales smash through the chamber's stone doorway, breaking it into pieces. The mass' head slams into the opposite wall and it lets out a pained squawk as it falls to the ground, blood dripping from its open wounds and staining the marble in scarlet.  
  
"!!!"  
  
His eyes widen and a gasp slips past his lips when a single, yellow eye (a shade even brighter than its scales) splits open. For a moment the creature seems dazed but then the eye shifts to stare in his direction and a low growl tumbles out its mouth. There's an intense hunger in its fierce gaze as it lifts its wounded, serpentine body and crackles of electricity snap around its bared fangs. It has the mouth of a lion and all the ferocity of a starving animal and he, a little Beast Tamer named Playmaker, is a fresh target it wants to slaughter and devour in the most vicious way possible.  
  
" _Shit_."  
  
The creature slams a thick, clawed talon into the floor, leaving deep puncture marks in its wake. It throws back its head, snaps open its jaws, and lets loose another bloodcurdling shriek. It makes his eardrums hurt and a wave of nausea hits him. It slows him down and he stumbles a bit when the creature slams its other talon into the ground, making the room shake.  
  
_'It's destroying everything in its path. At this rate, I'll be buried alive or worse.'_ _  
_  
Static fizzles in the air and his hair stands on ends. The sensation prickles at his skin, buzzes in his ears, and it's the only warning he gets before a surge of thunder comes barreling his way. If he hadn't already been thrown off course, he wouldn't have noticed until he was already on the ground writhing in pain. Luckily, fate is on his side in this instant because he feels it and sees it and just barely manages to throw himself out of the way before he's hit by the monster's attack.  
  
"Unh!"  
  
He hits the wall a little harder than he means to in his haste and winces at a burning pain he feels slice at his elbow. A quick glance reveals a nasty scrape peeking through his now torn bodysuit.  
  
_'Sometimes,'_ he muses as he pushes himself away from the wall and makes a dash for another doorway at the end of the hall. _'Sometimes this place is too real.'_ __  
  
He manages to reach the doorway without another shot of electricity being aimed his way, but as he's running across the threshold to try and escape his hungry pursuer, his foot catches on a raised piece of broken flooring and he takes a dive straight into the floor. A hard dive.  
  
And his left ankle twists.  
  
A cry leaves his throat as he lands on his stomach and he sucks in a desperate breathe for air when the wind is knocked out of him upon impact. The stirred up dust doesn’t help matters and makes him cough uncontrollably when he accidentally breathes it in.  
  
Behind him, the booming footsteps grow louder.

Behind him, the monster grows _closer_.   
  
"Fi...re...a-ah..." he tries to call out to his summon for help. Even this far, he should still be able to hear him, but with his lungs in the middle of righting themselves, words won’t form like they should. "Fire...wah...ll."   
  
He chokes on his words and coughs, throat raw and lungs burning. Now that he's stopped, getting his limbs to move again has become the most arduous task ever. Everything from breathing to even thinking about moving _hurts_.   
  
_'I can't give up now. I worked so hard just to find this place.'_   
  
The monster with the golden scales and fangs like a lion's smashes thunderous steps into the ground. They grow louder and more frequent every second he continues to lie there like helpless prey. He tries to crawl forward as best he can, tries desperately to put more distance between them. If he could just have a moment to heal himself, chug a healing potion, or at least regain his voice enough to call for his partner before the monster reaches him, he could bounce back up easily enough and continue to fight. But the golden monster won't give him a chance to recuperate. Not with how quickly it's advancing on him. Not with how ravenous it's become.   
  
Is...is he really going to die? Here? Like this?   
  
He’s never been eaten by a monster before. It’s a funny thing to think, but in this world, it’s just a fact of life. He’s had many a close call, but his track record for staying alive has always been very good.

He’s never died. Not a once.

It’s something his dear friend and fellow gamer, Kusanagi Shoichi, praises him for time and again, about how he defies death and clings to even the smallest thread of life in order to come out on top.

 _That takes some serious skill and determination_ , Kusanagi would say, but Playmaker always insists it’s due to the help of his summons that he’s able to keep winning like he does. It helps that he knows when to duck out of a situation when it’s beyond his skill level (which is something he didn’t do today despite being under level).

Speaking of summons, though, where is Firewall anyway? From the corner of his eyes, he can still see Firewall’s health bar and it’s still over 80% (and thanks to the regain spell he cast on her earlier, steadily growing). She is arguably his strongest summon and yet she’s nowhere in sight now. She was fighting the monster naught but a moment ago and viciously tearing into the beast in order to protect him.

They were in the chamber together... He even heard the dragon roar.

Could she be stuck in the hallway? It's tall enough and wide enough for something of Firewall's size to squeeze through, but maybe her wings are giving her trouble? The golden monster is just as big but its body is slippery like a snake's and can easily slither from room to room. Firewall isn’t so lucky.

He can’t afford another summon. It will take too long and he doesn’t have the time or energy for it.

What can he do?

 _'I have to get up! There must be some way out of this… Dying because I tripped is a stupid way to lose!'_   
  
It's a struggle, but he forces himself to move and finally manages to push himself up onto his knees and then onto his feet. However, when his left foot touches the ground, he winces as a sharp pain shoots up his left leg from the ankle he twisted. He falls back down onto his hands and knees, teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he tries not to cry.

It hurts. It hurts _a lot_.

Running with this injury is going to be next to impossible without a proper healing. He has to fix this _now_ or he won’t be able to get away at all.

If he acts quickly he can probably-  
  
Something slams into his back and he pitches forward, skidding across the floor from the sheer force of the impact. For the second time today, he can’t catch his breath. He tries to push through it and push himself back up, but something kicks him onto his back and he coughs at the dust that finds its way into his mouth, eyes closing briefly. A looming shadow falls over him then and something rumbles, growling, _salivating_ , around snaps of electricity.

He opens his eyes and is met by rows of sharp teeth and a drooling tongue that slithers across its mouth in anticipation. Hot breath blows over his face as the creature huffs and he stares, stunned, frozen in place. The monster lifts a clawed talon into the air, lightening twirling around its claws as if performing a dance.

 _Oh_ , is all he can think before the monster brings its talons down onto his head. 

Or, that’s what would have happened, he imagines, had something not slammed into the creature’s side just then and knocked it halfway across the room. He can only blink and stare at the space the monster had been, heart slowly coming down from its frightened high as he realizes what, _who_ , saved him.

“...Firewall.” he breathes.

Standing before him (and just in the nick of time, too) is a massive dragon he summoned much earlier in this little adventure. Its body is dyed in hues of blue and white and it has large, powerful wings that can easily stretch the length of the room if stretched out all the way. It reminds him of a great wall, a barrier between he and anyone that tries to do him harm. Firewall has always been rather protective of him. Now is certainly no different.

Firewall turns her head briefly and hisses at the golden beast as if daring it to get back up, before she quickly ducks her head and nuzzles at him in concern. The little chirrup she makes is timid and sweet, a sign of her affections and concerns and he runs his hands along the sides of her narrow face in return. She’s a kind dragon but has quite a temper and if the way hisses keep falling from her mouth when the monster so much as twitches are any indication, she’s livid.

“Thank you…” he tells her quietly.

Her response nuzzle is a little more tickly than he cares for and he pushes her away, just a little, and moves to show her he wants to try standing again. She backs off only a touch and watches him carefully as he attempts to push himself to his feet. It works about the same as his first attempt, but this time, Firewall is there to steady his stance and offers her head as support to keep him from toppling over when he wobbles.

His ankle still throbs and he leans heavily against Firewall, face pinched in pain.

“Of all things…” he mutters to himself.

Steadying himself against Firewall with one hand, he calls up his inventory and browses through a small, ghostly blue screen that suddenly appears in the air beside him. It’s mostly filled with duplicates and the odd trinket or two. He only took the necessities, things like full stocks of mana and health potions and various status restoratives. As a Beast Tamer, he needs plenty of those for not only him but his summons as well and they’re especially helpful in times like these where he’s too wounded and tired to use his own healing magic.

His finger hovers above a health potion, a Dian Keto product, and he taps at his screen to call the item into existence. A large vial of bright, green liquid appears in his hand and he quickly pops off the cork and downs the entire thing.

The effects are instant.

A tingling sensation quickly spreads from his throat to his chest and then travels down to caress his injury in a pleasant warmth. There’s a moment where his furrowed brows relax and his muscles untense and then, just like that, the pain is gone and he feels better than he ever has.

A relieved sigh spills from his lips as the vial disappears and he carefully reapplies weight on his left foot, testing it. Naturally, there’s no pain when he presses his foot to the ground and he lets himself relax for just a moment and offers Firewall a pet along her nose in thanks.

“I’m fine now.” he assures her and her pleased growl makes him smile just a little.

It quickly falls when he returns his attention back to the stunned monster. Firewall hit the thing with a paralyzing status condition, but he can tell from the way the status icon flickers that it’s wearing off.  

This is their chance. The monster’s health has dropped below 10%. If they act now and put their dwindling power into one more attack, the creature would be dead and he could end this nightmare once and for all.   
  
He takes a step back, eyes narrowing, and thrusts out his hand, fingers spread wide, and shouts.   
  
"Firewall, attack!”   
  
She flexes her wings and fumes spill from her open mouth as she turns to stare at the monster, a growl rumbling deep in her throat. Her claws flex and her chest swells as she takes a breath and then she fires off a blueish stream of starlight straight into the beast.

It doesn’t stand a chance.

Still trying to recover from being thrown into the wall, the monster with the golden scales is unable to pick itself up and retreat from the attack and it howls as it's swallowed up in blue flames. Its health bar drops to zero and he, feeling relief, rests his hands on his knees and bends forward, an exhausted sigh spilling out of him.  
  
"I hate the ones that just won't die." he mumbles to himself, eyes closing.   
  
This isn’t the first time he’s fought such a long battle and he doubts it’ll be his last. Firewall herself is a testament to that as she was once an event prize that he alone was able to acquire. It’s probably why she likes him so much. He fought for her, sought out a contract with her more fiercely than anyone else had, and she accepted, granting him both a powerful new ally and unwanted fame simultaneously.

Something gently nuzzles against the top of his head and he looks up to see Firewall, covered in battle scars and blood streaks, bent down on all fours gazing at him in silent concern. He huffs out a little laugh and reaches out a hand to pet her head. Firewall makes a low, pleased noise within her throat at the contact, wings twitching as she shifts.  
  
"I'll be alright." he assures her. "Just tired. You must be, too."   
  
When her wings twitch again, he glances up and eyes a large, bleeding gash along her left wing and frowns. He hadn’t noticed it before with his own injuries in the way and a quick check on her health bar reveals it to be a bit lower than before and his regain spell gone. Funny how they both ended up with injuries in similar places, albeit his was self-inflicted by an accident. Before he continues his search and finds the treasure he seeks, he’ll take care of Firewall first and then let her rest.

“Good job today.” he praises and she chirps, tail moving a bit. “Let me heal you.”

He runs both hands along the sides of her face and leans close to press their heads together. He closes his eyes and mutters something under his breath, a quick spell he knows by heart, and the two are suddenly surrounded by a large glyph that radiates a healing blue light. Slowly, her health bar begins to refill and the nicks and cuts, leftover blood and scrapes, and especially the large gash in her wing begin to fade into nothing. Soon, she’s in perfect health and he pulls away as the glyph fades, giving her another pet along her nose.  
  
"Go rest. I'll be fine on my own for a bit."   
  
Firewall makes another low noise, presses her head into his face in another affectionate nuzzle, and chirps again in acceptance. When she’s ready, he backs away a little and makes a quick gesture with his hand that’s something like a two-fingered wave.   
  
"Dismiss."   
  
Firewall fades in an ocean of glowing stars and then he’s alone in a room full of dust and debris.

 _‘Now…’_ He surveys the surrounding area, chin in hand and elbow propped up on his arm. _‘If I were an event prize being guarded by a monster, where would I be hidden?’_

Now that all the excitement has died down and he can risk standing in one place without being mauled, he eyes the room he’s in carefully. It’s a large, circular space with a high ceiling and a ring of spiral pillars circling an odd dip in the center of the room. There’s a small, thin set of steps leading down into this dip and he lets his gaze linger because it seems so out-of-place. It looks like something belongs there, but a quick glance around offers no clues as to what. There’s nothing broken inside the dip and there doesn’t appear to be any levers or keyholes nearby.

Hm...

Perhaps the guardian beast dropped something he needs?

He turns to where the scorched body of the creature still lies. Its golden scales are now tarnished an ugly black and it looks for all the world like a pile of scrap metal.

It’s dead. He _knows_ it’s dead. But, he can’t stop the apprehension from trickling down his spine as he wanders over to inspect its body. Carefully, he prods at it with his foot and when the thing doesn’t move, he relaxes a little.

“Do me a favor and stay dead.”

It’s odd how the body hasn’t disappeared yet. Usually, once an enemy is slain, the corpse vanishes into cyberspace. The only exceptions are when it has something on its body to loot or when it has a second chance moment and revives for one last battle. He...hopes it’s just the former.

_‘What am I missing? Is there even anything here?’_

As his eyes roam the creature’s body, something shiny glints in the corner of his vision and he pauses.

“???”

He spots something faintly glowing inside the creature’s open mouth and his lips stretch thin. He doesn’t want to go anywhere near this thing’s mouth. Even with its tongue still and eyes vacant, he doesn’t trust something not to happen. The body is still here, after all, and he doesn’t want to have his hand suddenly bitten off from carelessness.

Still… He doesn’t have much of a choice, does he? This temple has no exit (or it didn’t when the monster was still alive) and he wouldn’t be surprised if the exit remains gone until he collects whatever is in the dead creature’s mouth. So, he takes a breath and inches closer to its mouth, kneeling and eyeing its dead eyes with hesitation. Slowly, carefully, he reaches out and slips his hand between a gap in its teeth to grasp at the item.

Nothing happens when he does. The creature remains unmoving and he releases the breath he’s been holding and withdraws his hand. He stands and puts a little distance between he and the corpse before inspecting the item.

It’s some kind of white keycard, which surprises him. It’s gross and slimy as it’s covered in the monster’s saliva and there’s a single purple stripe printed across the front and nothing more. It doesn’t match the aesthetic of this place at all. This temple is built out of stone and has a Greek flair to its architecture. There’s nothing technological and modern about it aside from the game aspects.

So why a keycard? What person at SOL Tech even designed this event? Did they run out of ideas?

Confused but unsure what else to do, he wanders back to the center of the room where the dip rests. He doesn’t think anything will happen, but as he nears the very center, the sound of something sliding open draws his attention and he stops and watches as a section of the floor opens. Some kind of dais rises up from the empty center and on it is a metal box with a glowing red sensor latched onto its front.

_‘What…?’_

He approaches the box, hesitates a moment, and then brings the keycard up to the sensor. The sensor beeps, changes colors from red to green, and then the keycard suddenly vanishes from between his fingers in a puff of sparkles.

Could...the treasure be in this box?

He takes hold of the lid, opens the box, and then levels an even more confused stare down at its contents. Inside is lined with a spongy, black material that holds a strange purple object. It’s humanoid-shaped with vacant yellow eyes and no other discernible features like a nose or a mouth. Curious, he brushes his fingers against its tiny body, gently so as to not damage it, and picks it up to inspect it further. It doesn’t react past its arms and legs limply hanging at its sides and its head lolls to the side, like some kind of rag doll.

His eyebrows knit as he realizes that’s exactly what it is.

It’s...a doll.

It’s some kind of doll.

The special, super-secret event prize for the upcoming new game update isn’t a fancy new weapon like many of the rumors claimed and it’s not some fantastical spell scroll like many mage characters have speculated, no. It’s just...just a doll. A doll with no function. It doesn’t even have proper flavor text or at least not one he can access. The only thing he can tell from the item’s extremely limited info is that it’s super rare and that’s...that’s it.

He feels so disappointed he doesn’t bother to inspect the area further. At this point, he’s found the main “prize” (ridiculous as it is) and has no reason to stay behind. Normally he would double back for possible loot missed because events like these tend to have more valuables than just the advertised prizes, but he’s _exhausted_. Fully healed yes but mentally, he’s worn out. So he stashes the doll away into his inventory, sets a lock on it to prevent an accidental deletion, and uses an escape rope item to teleport himself out of the dungeon and back to the city.


	2. Chapter 2

When Playmaker materializes at the Gate, he lets out a quiet sigh, both out of exhaustion from the fight and relief at the peace he’s greeted with. The hub city is normally bustling with activity at all hours of the day, but with the current event going on ( _ and the late hour _ , he muses after glancing at the server time) it’s much less crowded now and he’s thankful for the respite. After being chased for god knows how long by that monster with the golden scales, nearly being eaten alive, and then claiming a disappointing, severely overhyped prize, he’s not up to dealing with people, especially not fans. 

Ever since obtaining Firewall Dragon about a year ago and gaining popularity for being the only participating player to survive all six event trials to reach her, he’s become something of a legendary player to the masses (and an idol to fellow Beast Tamers alike). He doesn’t know popular players like Go Onizuka or Blue Angel deal with it because he just finds the whole thing tiresome. Everyone is fascinated by how he plays, by how he never dies, by how he managed to do something no one else ever could despite being a fairly new player himself. They’re all eager for stories, advice, a chance to team up with him, or a chance to swap friend IDs (and some...some have wanted more than that), but he always turns them down one way or another. 

It’s no secret to those that know of him that this place, this city they call Gaia, is his home city within the network. If someone has a desire to find him, waiting around here is their best option because eventually, he’ll appear, if only for a moment. Many rightly speculate that this is due to the real world player living within the city Gaia was originally modeled after (a place by the sea called Den City), but thankfully he has ways of erasing his tracks, so no one has ever been able to connect him to anyone in the real world. Even if they did, who would ever believe that Playmaker’s account holder is a quiet, unremarkable teenager with anxiety issues and even worse insomnia? Everyone believes in the hyped up stories, like how he must be some incredible pro gamer or how he’s secretly on SOL’s payroll to challenge the player base. There are even rumors he’s an underground hacker that uses his skills to cheat the system and while the hacking part isn’t wrong, the accusation most certainly is. His programming skills are top-notch and everyone he works with that knows him on a personal level acknowledges this. 

But cheating? 

In a game he enjoys wholeheartedly? 

Absolutely  _ not _ . 

Every item he’s obtained, every skill he’s gained, and every single point of EXP he’s scraped together has been through his own efforts. He’s worked hard for everything he has and doesn’t need to do something as selfish and cowardly as cheat. The insinuation that he would ever even consider it is insulting in itself.

Still, those are just rumors and are but one of many. He’s learned, over time, to spare them little more than an exasperated sigh or an eye roll at best because they never end. People just love to gossip and speculate, even if the remarks can be cruel. 

_ ‘At least now it’s quiet… I wonder if the apartment is empty today, too?’ _

Outside of Link VRAINS, Playmaker is Fujiki Yusaku, a sixteen-year-old high schooler living with an estranged aunt in Den City. His life, while not exactly normal, is fairly standard and maybe a bit dull. He himself doesn’t stand out that much and he doesn't try to, either. His aunt says it’s a shame because he’s smart and has a pretty face to match, but attention is bothersome, being noticed is a chore. Regardless, the allure of the game, the promise of freedom and anonymity and a new life as someone else, keep him coming back again and again despite his shy nature. It’s the one place he feels he belongs and it helps keep him occupied at night when his nightmares won’t let him sleep. 

A while back, at the tender age of eight, he lost both his parents to a bridge collapse. The three of them were coming home from a special birthday trip his parents planned for him in advance. It was a trip to an observatory during the clearest night he’d ever seen, all to see the stars up close because, at that time in his life, he was obsessed with space and science and his parents wanted to nurture that. He vaguely remembers it being fun, all smiles and laughter is his memory.

But as they were coming home… 

As they were crossing the bridge he’d been on a million times before...

If it hadn’t been for his mother’s sacrifice, he wouldn’t have survived the accident at all. He still remembers it far too vividly, how his father died instantly, how his mother kept him from drowning...

In the aftermath, he was traded between family members that didn’t know how to approach him or grew frustrated that his therapy wasn’t working for years and years until he finally settled with a distant relative, his aunt, who offered him a place in the world. She’s young and beautiful and kind in her own way, but not very good with children and is always off doing her own thing. Still, the fact he's been living with her for so long is enough proof that she cares. She’s the first to not mind his problems and actually offer him help when he needs it. So, it’s a relationship that works even if it’s awkward at times.

_ ‘I wonder if she’s home tonight or out on another job…’ _

He considers logging out then and there and checking in on her, but a bell-like echo sounds in his ears and he snaps out of his musings to hold a hand against his ear. 

“Hey, Yusaku!” comes a familiar, disembodied voice. It lightly echoes in a similar manner as the notification sound. “Just saw you appear on the map. How’d it go?”

“Ah...Kusanagi-san.” 

It’s a private call from his close friend and confidant, Kusanagi Shoichi, who also plays the game alongside him. He’s much the same as Yusaku and spends his nights wide awake, drinking pot after pot of coffee while doing side jobs for clients on the net. Unlike Yusaku, however, he doesn’t actually play the game all that much and only then, in groups. So his level is much lower than Yusaku’s when, by all accounts, it should be much higher. When he does play, though, he’s quite good at providing support and has helped Yusaku numerous times (far too numerous to count).

“You sound out of it.” Kusanagi continues. There’s a frown on his lips. Yusaku can tell from the slight dip in his tone and the way he hesitates slightly when he speaks. “Was it that bad?”

Yusaku lets out another sigh and runs a hand down his face. Where does he even start? 

“It felt like a waste of time for how hard the dungeon was.” he replies with. He moves to lean against the moss-covered brick wall nearby and tilts his head to stare up at the digital night sky. It’s painted in dark blues and purples and pinks with brushes of milky galaxies streaking the sky. The stars twinkle at him in rainbows, as if winking playfully. “The event prize doesn’t make any sense…”

“Hm… So, what’s the prize? They’ve been very hush-hush on the whole thing.”

Kusanagi sounds so curious in that eager, excitable sort of way that Yusaku almost doesn’t reply. He hesitates, eyes still on the stars.

“...a doll.”

Kusanagi is silent for a moment before he speaks again with confusion lacing his words. “I’m sorry. I think I misheard you? Did you say a doll?”

“Yeah. A doll.” he repeats. He huffs out a short breath and opens his inventory to inspect the item again. The icon it’s under is even stranger. It’s just SOL Tech’s logo. “There’s no flavor text and I can’t do anything with it. It doesn’t even have a name.”

Upon further inspection, Yusaku notices something odd about the item’s info window. Next to the slot where its name is supposed to be is a clickable little pencil icon. There does exist items within the game that allow players to rename them to whatever they like, granted the right conditions are met. Otherwise, they need an item rename scroll for it. It’s rare to come across an item with the option already available like this.

So the doll is customizable… That’s very odd considering it doesn’t do anything. At least, not anything he knows of.

“Unless this has an area specific use, I don’t know what to do with it.” On a whim, he taps at the little pencil icon and types in a quick name just to have something to call it that isn’t ‘useless junk item’. “What do you think?”

He closes his inventory once the name saves and nothing else magically happens as a result. “Ai” probably isn’t very original, but it’s short, easy to remember, and it fits, he thinks.

Kusanagi hums and mumbles something to himself that Yusaku doesn’t quite catch. He hears the squeaking of a chair and then the click of footsteps as Kusanagi presumably stands to walk.

“I think that’s possible. It’s not the first time SOL has created an item with a specific use.” Kusanagi muses. “Still...a doll of all things? Hunh. Maybe it’s a new summon item or...”

He trails off and then gives a chuckle.

“If I didn’t already know your answer, I’d offer to take a peek into its coding.”

Yusaku huffs and shakes his head a little to himself. He doesn’t need to say it and he knows, on some level, Kusanagi isn’t serious, but the words slip out of his mouth regardless if for no other reason than a formality.

“That’s cheating, Kusanagi-san. Don’t tease me.”

Kusanagi laughs and Yusaku can hear the hum of a coffee maker in the background. “I know, I know. Still... I’ll do some research on it. Surely someone else must have completed the event and posted information on it by now. I’ll be up for a while anyway. A little extra work won’t hurt.” 

Yusaku frowns at that. “Kusanagi-san, that’s not ne-”

“Don’t bother arguing with me, Yusaku. I’m just going to do it anyway and you know that, too.” he interrupts. Honestly, they know each other too well. “Unlike a certain Beast Tamer I know,  _ I _ haven’t been stuck in a dungeon all day. I can multitask for this. You…”

Kusanagi’s voice softens and a soft breath leaves him. “You should rest. You sound really tired.” 

An understatement, really. Yusaku feels like he can drop next to the Gate and stay here until morning. The Gate has a constant, pleasant hum and the soft blue light it spills across the cobblestone path as it slowly turns is soothing, like having a big, round night light hovering in the air. If it weren’t for the lack of bedding and the reminder that he should check in on his aunt, he might just curl up here for a quick little nap...

“Mm, why not head over to the Koi River to wind down first?”

Yusaku raises an eyebrow at that. “Why there?”

“Well, it does have healing properties. Might help take your mind off things and help you relax.” Kusanagi’s tone then turns teasing. “Besides, the koi fish all seem to really like you. I’m sure they’d love another visit.”

Yusaku huffs, cheeks a faint pink. “I said don’t tease me. That was one time…”

One time and he’s never let Yusaku forget about it. It’s not his fault the koi fish can be playful when the mood strikes them. He humored them one time during a lull in his activities and let them lead him around the banks of the river. Just once and Kusanagi caught him in the middle of it. More specifically, in an odd part of the city while being helplessly nuzzled by a koi fish dyed in sunset colors.

_ Cute _ . 

Kusanagi thought it was  _ cute _ .

Yusaku isn’t  _ cute _ . 

How rude…

“Anyway, seriously. Get some rest, Yusaku. You’re smart but you can’t sleep in class  _ every  _ day, you know?”

Despite the tease, it actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea and he knows Kusanagi is just concerned for his well-being. So he hums in response and nods even though his friend can’t see it.

“I’ll try.”

“Good.” He sounds satisfied. “Tell your aunt I said hi, by the way. That program she lent me was just what I needed. Good night, Yusaku.”

“Mm. Good night.”

The call ends with another bell-like echo and Yusaku lets his hand fall to his side and ponders over what he should do next. On the one hand, he really ought to logout, but for as tired as he is, he feels far too restless for sleep at the same time. The adrenaline high from the long battle hasn’t quite worn itself off yet and if he tries to lie down in bed with it still present in his system, he knows nothing good will come of it. Being alone at night, in bed, with nothing but his stray thoughts to keep him company tends to end in nightmares of twisted metal, dirty red water, and bright pink hair drenched in scarlet. So he’d like to avoid that if at all possible.

Perhaps a walk around Gaia would do him some good? He has a few other junk items he needs to dispose of anyway and selling them off to some NPC shopkeeper is better than dumping them all on the ground.

And really, visiting the Koi River sounds kind of nice…

He pushes away from the wall, leaves the glowing Gate behind him, and walks along the pristine, empty streets, eyes returning to the sky.

Gaia itself is a remarkable work of architecture and artistic design. It was modeled after Den City (originally meant to be an exact copy, according to news and magazine articles) but underwent heavy changes before being introduced to the public as an entirely new place. Unlike Den City, however, with its massive buildings and disconnected citizens, Gaia is more open and free. There’s more greenery and flora left to grow wild across the rooftops and there's cozy little taverns and shops to venture into, like a faraway city you might read about in a fairytale. And at the heart of the city lies a great tree with a trunk so thick and a body so tall that its roots run all throughout the city and its leaves touch the sky. It’s Gaia’s most prominent feature aside from the mystical Koi River, that wraps around the city like a great, watery serpent. The tree is impossible to miss and can be seen from any part of the city. Even now Yusaku can see it, a great shadowy canopy resting against the night sky.

As for the Koi River itself, it’s a very mysterious, otherworldly place. It’s home to ghostly pyreflies and giant koi fish that swim in the glittery air surrounding it rather than the actual water below. The official myth behind it is that the river is linked to the afterlife, or the limbo dead players rest in as they await resurrection at a nearby Cathedral. No one has ever actually seen this supposed afterlife, of course, but it does make for a spooky tale or two. For instance, there’s this odd rumor about the koi fish. People say they become particularly friendly and protective of players who are going to die within the game soon. It’s silly and has no basis in fact because no one can prove it, but still. It’s kind of creepy to think about. 

He continues on through the city streets and into the town square, only briefly stopping at a shop stall to sell of his junk items before continuing on. He spares the bulletin board in the city square a passing glance as he walks by and sees Blue Angel’s visage posted across the front and something about a maintenance period before some random player blocks the whole thing and he loses interest in whatever else it has to advertise.

_ ‘I’ll check the news later.’ _

Or Kusanagi will end up telling him, most likely. The man might as well be Yusaku’s own personal bulletin board for how much he relays the news to him.

Eventually, after walking a bit further, the Koi River finally comes into view. The cobblestone blends into dirt and the dirt into tall grass. The river shimmers and shines under the glowing moonlight and he can see wisps of pyreflies slowly drifting through the air, leaving trails of ghostly light in their wake. Large, phantom-like shadows wade through the air, as well, and as he inches closer and his presence becomes more known, some of them turn, recognize his face, and then hurriedly swim towards him like he’ll disappear if they don’t move quickly.

The moment they reach him, he’s assaulted in nuzzles by the same sunset fish from the other day while another, pinker fish swims excited circles around his legs. The pink one is careful not to knock him over, but the sunset one can’t be bothered being polite and Yusaku has to readjust his posture before he gets knocked into the grass.

“O-okay, stop…”

He manages to grab hold of the slippery, wiggly thing and puts it at arms length. It only calms down a little and Yusaku gives it an exasperated look.

“I’m really not up to cuddling, okay?” He glances down at the pink fish. “The same goes for you, too.”

The pair make a small little sound. It’s something like a sigh or a breath of wind, too quiet to really catch but loud enough to make itself known. They calm and their excited air mellows. 

Pink slows to a lazy pace and slowly swims along the grass to give him the space he needs.

Sunset wiggles out of his hold but doesn’t attempt another attack. Instead, it spots a pyrefly nearby and chases after its trail of light.

Yusaku watches them swim away and shakes his head a little, a bit amused. Such playful things they were programmed to be… Although why they think he’s a good playmate is a mystery he’ll never solve.

He takes in a deep breath of the cool air wafting around the ghostly river and then settles down onto the grass, chin resting against his knees and arms wrapped around his legs. A sense of calm and safety settles over his heart and mind as he watches the pyreflies and stardust drift by. The area here is always so quiet and peaceful. It’s probably due to the area effect it has and what Kusanagi meant by “healing properties”.

_ ‘I’ll have to ask him about the doll tomorrow.’ _ he muses, eyes drooping, consciousness fading.  _ ‘See what he found out…’ _

The ghostly sights of the river, all the pyreflies, the phantom koi fish, and the reflective glow cast on the water’s surface all slowly fade from his view as he succumbs to the urge to close his eyes. In the distance, he can hear the faint sounds of the city with its lingering residents still wandering about and the trickling of water as the river flows ever onward.

Trickling, trickling.

Trickling, trickling.

The sound of metal giving under pressure as gravity digs sharp claws into the vehicle’s doors.

The ground shifts.

The world gives out.

Glass breaks and his head hurts.

Trickling, trickling.

Trickling, trickling.

It’s a sound that goes on forever. The water just never stops. He can feel it on his fingertips, feel it seeping into his clothes. It’s cold. His body feels numb.

“Yusaku?” a voice calls, desperate, distressed, but far away like a dream. “Yusaku! Sweetie, open your eyes!”

He doesn’t, at first, content to let the sounds of the trickling water carry him off where it may. But a hand touches his shoulder and shakes him, gently, hesitant at first, but then more roughly as he remains asleep.

“Wake up. You shouldn’t be here.”

He stirs and the voice loses its desperate edge. It sounds, if anything, amused rather than afraid. It’s enough to pull him back, drag him away from the cold water, and he wakes.

It takes him a long moment to recognize the eerie glow of the Koi River and the fact that he’s no longer sitting but is curled up on the ground on his side. When had that happened?

“ _ Finally _ . I was starting to wonder if you would ever wake up.”

Yusaku pushes himself back into a sitting position and rubs a hand underneath his eye. Still half-asleep but awake enough to realize he isn’t alone, he glances up to see someone wearing all white kneeled down in front of him. His face is covered by a mask, but Yusaku can still see the curve of his lips as they slip into an amused smile.

Yusaku’s gaze travels further upward and he sees a name, Revolver, hovering above the players head, highlighted in orange.

“You shouldn’t nap out in the open like that. There’s a lot of people who would take advantage of that, you know.”

“Mm…” Yusaku barely offers a hum in response, still too sleepy to properly function. “Did I?”

“You did.” Revolver says and then a short laugh slips out. “Playmaker, right? Logout and go to bed. I think your friends here will understand.”

Revolver gestures to the koi fish as Sunset gently bumps against Yusaku’s cheek. Pink is at his back, as if guarding him while he slept.

“Mm.” Yusaku hums again and holds up a hand in a half-hearted wave. “Night.”

He logs out without even thinking to thank the stranger for the wake-up call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof


	3. Chapter 3

Yusaku closes the front door of the apartment with a click and a soft sigh. The air conditioning feels heavenly after trudging through Den City’s streets in the blazing summer sun. School was extra tiring today as well. He didn’t get much sleep after logging out of Link VRAINS last night and his usual class time cat naps suffered due to unwanted chatter. He normally sits in the very back of his classes where he’s least likely to be bothered, but today, for some ungodly reason, one of his classmates was hellbent on speaking to him, getting to know him. He doesn’t know why. Maybe someone put the guy up to it. Regardless, he’s relieved to be home and is greatly looking forward to stripping out of his school uniform and into something more comfortable.

“Mm? Oh hey, kiddo! I’m in the kitchen!”

Yusaku looks away from the door and sees the slender figure of his aunt leaning back out of the kitchen with a whisk in her hand and an old, frilly apron wrapped around her waist. Her long, pink hair is tied up in a loose ponytail today and there’s a smear of something a faint yellow on her cheek.

“You’re home this early?” Yusaku asks, expression mildly surprised. It’s not unusual for him to come home to an empty apartment. His aunt tends to have multiple clients she sees to and is typically on the job at this hour. “And...cooking?”

“Baking. It’s a cake.” his aunt corrects and offers him a sly smile. “Care to lend a hand and help me taste test~?”

“I’m not much of a cake person.” he replies but he’s already in the process of slipping out of his shoes and setting his bag near the door. “Since when do you bake?”

She still has that sly smile playing along her painted lips and he’s beginning to feel suspicious of it. It’s enough to draw a slight frown across his face and if anything, her smile only grows in response.

“Bessho-san,” he starts, pausing in the entranceway to level her with a scrutinizing look. He has a hunch of what this is about, but just to be sure... “what-”

“ _Ema_.” She interrupts him with a reprimand in the form of her name and points the batter-coated whisk in her hands at him. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m your aunt. Ema is fine.”

Yusaku opens his mouth, but she levels this little glare on him and he closes it instead, hesitating, considering his words.

“...Ema-san.”

Her shoulders sink as she exhales a long sigh. He’s never quite been able to drop the honorifics out of his speech when addressing her or even use her given name. It’s a habit of his from childhood, a way to keep people at a distance regardless of how he feels about them. After being shipped around to so many households and incurring so much animosity and disappointment, it just made things easier to not get attached to anyone. She is...different. He knows that, but even still. He can’t drop the habit and she corrects him on it all the time. It’s become their routine.

“Close enough. Just get in here.” She shakes her head and mumbles to herself as she ducks back into the kitchen. “One of these days, Yusaku… One of these days, I’ll get you to say it.”

He highly doubts that but says nothing more on the subject as he steps away from the front door and walks toward the kitchen. It’s just past the living room and a short hallway that leads to their bedrooms. The apartment itself is fairly spacious and pristine with its open floor design, off-white walls, and large windows with a clear view overlooking the city. The main floors are all a peach-colored wood while the bedrooms are lined in a soft cream carpet. It’s nice but hardly lived in, even with him living here. She’s always off on jobs or off in her head with programming work and he’s always exploring Link VRAINS or helping Kusanagi with a task. If it weren’t for the state of their bedrooms and the stock of foodstuffs in the fridge, no one would think anyone even lives here.

“Bessho-san.”

As he enters the kitchen and nears her side, she turns and lightly taps his cheek with the whisk. Cake batter smears across his skin in a thin streak. It’s cold and goopy and he very nearly pouts. The look he sends her is enough to convey that.

“ _Ema_.” she corrects and taps him again for good measure. She sets a hand against her hip and gestures at the bowl she’s mixing things up in with the whisk. “So? How’s it taste?”

Yusaku eyes her briefly. There’s this twinkle in her eyes and this certain upward lit to her tone that she only ever has when she’s up to something. So he thinks he has a right to be suspicious of her and ask just what she’s up to, but she’s standing there waiting for an answer and he has no reason to suspect anything weird like poisoned cake batter or the like.

“What’s all this about?” He wipes at the batter still clinging to his cheek with a finger and then brings it to his lips. A quick lick is all he needs. It’s sweet but not too much so and tastes lightly of vanilla. “It tastes fine to me.”

“So you like it?” she asks, ignoring his question. There’s this expectancy in her expression that Yusaku doesn’t want to think about. He merely has a hunch, just a hunch because of the current date. “I thought something light would be more your thing so…”

Yusaku turns and pins her with a stare. “Bessho-san, you don’t-”

“ _Ema_.” she corrects and discards the whisk in favor of wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She offers him a tiny smile. “Yusaku, you never have any fun on your birthday. I know it’s not for a few more days, but I wanted to celebrate it with you. You know, like a real family would.”

 _I don’t like my birthday_ , almost rolls off his tongue but he bites it back for her sake if not for his own. It’s not something he needs to say anyway. She knows as well as he does why it’s the one day of the year he avoids thinking about, nearly despises.

Because that’s when his parents died, both left to a watery grave, as he was carried away to safety and forced to watch his mother drown.

 _‘She’s just trying to be nice.’_ he tells himself and knows it’s true.

Something must be showing on his face or perhaps he’s been quiet for too long because she gently ruffles his hair and gives him a little squeeze.

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.” she says and then ruffles his hair one more time. Her voice is a little bit quieter, a little more soft. It lasts for another fleeting moment before she pulls away and grabs the whisk. Then that sly smile is back on her face and hand back on her hip. “So, yay or nay on the vanilla? I’m still making this cake and you’re still going to eat it with me~”

He huffs and eyes the bowl of cake batter, head tilting slightly as he inspects it thoughtfully. If she insists, then fine. He’ll eat cake with her. However...

“Vanilla is fine, but it’ll spoil our dinner, Bessho-san.” he points out.

“ _Ema_.”

“...Ema-san.”

Her cheeks puff and he can’t resist the faint smile that touches his lips. She shoos him off then, mumbles something about him being cheeky, and returns to her mixing while he retires to his room for the time being.

He flips the light on as he enters and sets about stripping out of his uniform as he makes his way to his bed. The jacket is the first to go and then the tie soon follows after. He discards them in a laundry hamper he has nearby and once he reaches his bed, he falls onto it and buries his face into the sheets.

He’d honestly just really love to take a nap. Right here, like this. His aunt would call him when the cake was finished anyway, so staying awake isn’t really something he needs to do. Homework could wait. It’s not like it’s particularly hard stuff.

But…

He lifts his head and eyes the old duel disk he has resting atop his bedside table. It’s an older design, clunky and big compared to the sleek models they have now. It’s something his parents gave him when he was still young and although he could upgrade, he doesn’t have the heart to. Besides, after some tinkering and reprogramming, he got it to work with updated software and programs just fine.

_‘I wonder if Kusanagi-san found anything?’_

He pushes himself up onto his elbows and crawls forward to grab his duel disk. A nap sounded amazing, but a quick trip into Link VRAINS wouldn’t hurt. He wouldn’t do any dungeons or take on any quests for the time being. For now, for just a little while, his trip into the system would be for nothing more or less than a social call. With one person. Just to check on things.

He straps the duel disk to his wrist and props himself up against the headboard. His eyes close and he relaxes into his pillows and the blankets. A blue light glows from the device strapped to his wrist as he holds it up to his chest and leaves the walls of his bedroom behind.

“Into the VRAINS!”

When Yusaku opens his eyes again, he breathes in damp air and drinks in the eerie sights of Gaia’s river as it forever flows around the city. He, as Playmaker, is standing next to the Koi River once again, in the same location he departed from last night after being awoken from his impromptu nap. He’d almost forgotten about it in his sleepy haze, but seeing the glistening water down below reminds him of it and idly, he wonders about the player who woke him. He doesn’t remember their name now, just that they wore all white and had golden eyes with no sclera. They seemed nice, too, he supposes. Why else would someone wake a stranger when they didn’t have to? Still...

_‘I wonder why…’_

They couldn’t have known about his nightmare. No one aside from his aunt and Kusanagi is even aware he has problems sleeping and Yusaku very rarely acts out in his sleep, deep or light. So was it a passing fancy, perhaps? Just an act of goodwill? Mm... Well regardless, the thought was appreciated.

He’d never given them a thank you, though.

_‘Oh well...’_

His attention returns to the present and he takes a moment to survey his surroundings. The ghostly Koi River glows in painted pinks and oranges as the sun slowly sinks over the horizon and behind Gaia’s great tree. Luckily for him, there’s no excitable koi fish there to greet him this time around and all the pyreflies that normally fliter about like phantoms above the water’s surface are hidden away in the shadows of the river, resting, saving their energy for when night falls. Both creatures seem to prefer the cover of night to the light of day despite not being particularly nocturnal. It’s something that adds to their spooky afterlife myth and many people try to avoid them out of superstition.

A silly thing to do, so he thinks. They may have minds of their own, but they are merely programs, in the end.

Looking around, there is a koi fish or two lazily swimming around in the air (one a spotted red and the other a sleek black), but they pay him no mind and leave him to his own devices, unlike how Sunset and Pink would immediately nuzzle up to his side on sight. It’s just as well, he muses. The sunset fish is far too snuggly and being assaulted by it upon first stepping into Link VRAINS isn’t something he would be up to dealing with.

_‘Better leave before they do show up.’_

He makes up his mind to leave before the two fish can appear, but before he can so much as take two steps away, the chime of a bell echoes in his ears. He pauses and sets a hand against his ear to answer the incoming call.

“You’re later than usual.” comes Kusanagi’s tired greeting. “Let me guess, school stuff?”

“Aunt stuff.” Yusaku corrects and thinks back to the apron his aunt wore. “She was home early today.”

“Ahhh. Understandable.”

Yusaku’s lips twist at the exhaustion in his friend’s tone. “Have you been up all night?”

There’s hesitation on Kusanagi’s end and then a soft laugh puffs through their call. It’s laced with guilt, the kind of laugh you make when you know you’ve been caught and don’t have an excuse at the ready. Hearing it is all the proof Yusaku needs and he gives the other man a sigh tinged in disappointment. Yusaku knows it’s hypocritical to lecture him on the dangers of lack of sleep and he won’t do that (not exactly), but still… Still...

“Kusanagi-san…”

He doesn’t need to lecture. His tone of voice, heavy with a promise of one should Kusanagi argue, is all he really needs. It portrays his worry well enough and Kusanagi’s return sigh is enough of an acknowledgment that he understands and is sorry.

“I know, I know... I had a good reason, though. Honest.”

Yusaku’s head tilts and he eyes the dark green grass under his feet. “Like?”

“Finishing up some things for a client, for one, and…” Kusanagi hesitates but a moment here. Then he huffs out another one of those guilty chuckles. “Well, I was waiting for you to show up actually.”

Oh.

Yusaku shifts uncomfortably at that. He doesn’t like inconveniencing others or being any kind of burden. That’s something, he supposes, leftover from his days of family hopping, when adults only saw him as a nuisance and any children they already had couldn’t understand his quietness. Hearing Kusanagi admit that he’s been waiting for him makes Yusaku feel bad. It’s not his fault, he knows. Kusanagi chose to stay awake. However, it doesn’t stop his frown from deepening. Before he can voice anything in his mind, though, Kusanagi starts speaking again.

“I could have just left you a message, but it’s...it’s about that item you found, Yusaku. You still have it, right?”

Yusaku blinks up and catches the wisp of a flowing fishtail as it passes him by. Kusanagi sounds strange in a way he can’t put into words. Apprehensive, perhaps? He’s not sure. His friend sounds oddly quiet, like he’s struggling to keep a secret from being overheard.

“I do.” Yusaku opens up his inventory to check on the doll, Ai, and sure enough, it’s still where he left it, lock and all. Nothing about it has changed since last night, either. “...is something wrong?”

Kusanagi doesn’t immediately answer and Yusaku’s eyebrows knit as he closes his inventory.

“Kusanagi-san.”

“I’m thinking...maybe we should scan it after all.” he finally replies with. “I know you’re against that kind of thing, but I’m worried you found something you shouldn’t have. It would be better if you saw my findings yourself so you can understand. You need to tell me more about last night, too. Meet me at the hideout?”

Something isn’t right about this. What did Kusanagi find that has him so on edge? If it were anyone else, Yusaku would be skeptical, but Kusanagi has never steered him wrong before. Much like Yusaku himself, Kusanagi is a skilled hacker and although he teases Yusaku about it on occasion, he’s not a cheater, either. If he honestly thinks they have a need to go against the Terms of Service and do something technically game illegal then...well.

He trusts Kusanagi.

“I’ll teleport. Be there in a moment.”

Yusaku ends the call before Kusanagi has a chance to respond. His hand falls from his ear only to make a swiping gesture in the air. His inventory pops up once more and he swipes at the screen to shift windows. It rolls over to a new inventory, a storage compartment, sparsely filled with just a few special items. It’s much smaller than his regular inventory, only holds maybe ten things total. Yusaku likes to keep the rarer of his items that he actually has a use for in here, like a charm that summons a little Sphere Kuriboh sprite or the teleportation key to his and Kusanagi’s shared player home.

That item, he quickly taps. Instead of a physical item appearing in his hands, however, a glyph that glows a faint yellow appears below him and he fades out of existence as the key activates and sends him off to another part of the city.

“You could have said bye first.” comes Kusanagi’s little complaint the moment Yusaku materializes in their player home. There’s a faint smile on his face, though, and really, he doesn’t sound angry at all. Exasperated, perhaps. “It’s rude to hang up on someone like that, you know?”

Unlike Yusaku and his skintight green bodysuit, Kusanagi is dressed in loose fitting robes dyed in varying shades of purple. His face isn’t much different from his real world looks (dark hair, dark eyes), but there are a few painted symbols adorning his skin and his eyes carry a faint glow that makes them look slightly brighter than normal. It’s a side effect of the weapon he mains, a rare arcane staff any mage would kill to have in their possession. It doesn’t see much use, but Kusanagi finds the look “cool”, so he keeps it equipped anyway for the aesthetic it provides.

Yusaku sends him a tiny frown. “The sooner you show me what you found, the sooner you can rest.”

It makes perfect sense in his mind. Even in this digital world, it’s hard to miss the shadows underneath his friend’s eyes. Still, Kusanagi shakes his head and his words sound more fond than anything else.

“I’ll remember that next time you pull an all-nighter, Beast Tamer-sama.”

Yusaku ignores the jab and walks over to the big console Kusanagi is seated in front of. It’s composed of a wall of screens, four stacked in a neat square. Below them lies a large panel of controls and two seats in front of that. Kusanagi occupies one of them, but the other is free for him to take. Yusaku doesn’t take it, however, and opts to rest his palms against the back of it and lean against it instead.

He glances at the screens expectantly. “What did you find?”

Kusanagi hums and turns to the screens. He taps a few keys, makes a few clicks here and there, and then all four screens are covered in message logs, pictures, and various other forum posts.

“ _This_.” he says and points at the screens. His expression turns from teasing to concerned in a matter of seconds. “I found a few people who completed the event. They posted about their experience and the prizes they won. I even found a few announcements from SOL moderators. Just have a look yourself.”

He doesn’t know what to make of the face Kusanagi is making, but Yusaku follows along and reads through the information displayed on each screen. Really, all he sees are excited players showing off their conquests and level ups. There are pictures on a few of the forum posts, screenshots and selfies the players took while posing next to their rewards or showing off someplace within the dungeon. One player, in particular, Go Onizuka, he’s not surprised in the slightest to see among the event finishers. The guy has a whole thread of his own filled to the brim with pictures and information about the event prize. It’s something showy for his fans and Yusaku isn’t particularly interested in this kind of fanfare, but something about the post catches his eye and he pauses to read through it.

_Go Onizuka 20:00_

_Victory! That dungeon was something else! How did the rest of you fair to the final boss? A monster based on a Greek myth was interesting... Not quite what I was expecting, in the end, but it was a good challenge. I got a new weapon while I was in there, too. It will make a fine addition to my collection of rare axes. Check it out!_

Attached to the post is a picture Onizuka took of himself with his prize. It’s a glowing black axe with a purple aura and sharp, sloping edges. Its shape is wide and narrow and reminds Yusaku of the way fangs taper into a point. He reads through the rest of the post and only sees more pictures of Go with his new axe as well as shots of the inner temple. He must have gone back through to sightsee and snap photos because the place is empty. There are shots of a courtyard with a flowing fountain and high balconies with overgrown foliage dangling from the ceiling like curtains. There’s another room filled with gold statues and another with a huge broken sculpture of what could presumably be a king.

The temple is a big, open place meant to look like a mostly intact ruin and it looks nothing like the one Yusaku was in last night.

Yusaku frowns and walks around the chair to lean against the control panel. He squints up at the screen, rereads a bit of Onizuka’s post, and then studies the other screens more carefully. The rest isn’t quite as picture heavy as Onizuka’s, but they all describe the things in his pictures in near perfect detail. They talk about how the room of gold statues creeped them out or how beautiful the courtyard was to roam around in. And the monster, the final one, they describe it as being a rotten stone statue that turned everything it touched into gold.

There’s nothing about a monster with golden scales or rooms that rearrange themselves or mysterious boxes filled with dolls in any of the posts he sees. In fact, the prize they all talk about varies from new weapons to ability boosts to new D-Boards to ride on. It’s just a list of generic prizes with boosts meant to work best in the coming new area.

“What?”

“See?” Kusanagi says. His eyes narrow a bit and his lips form a hard line. “The prizes all vary, but they all have a use. What else can you tell me about that dungeon? Did anything seem off to you?”

Why does nothing match up? It’s like he and they took on two completely different dungeons. Yusaku’s had been suffocating and cramped, more like a tomb. This one in the posts has plenty of breathing room and even has parts of the sky visible. And the guardian beast is different? Why?

“...it’s different.”

“Different how?”

Yusaku straightens and crosses his arms. He knows he went to the right place. He _knows_ he did. “The dungeon and...everything they talk about. None of it matches the dungeon I was in or the things I saw.”

The architecture and general aesthetic is the same, but the similarities end there. It’s not possible… It’s just not possible and yet, it’s staring him in the face. How could this have happened? How could he have ended up in a different place when they all started in the same area?

He points to the pictures, to the statues and the courtyard. “This wasn’t in there. None of this was. The monster I fought was some kind of serpent and the doll was in a box I had to open with a keycard.”

“A keycard?” Kusanagi repeats. His eyes widen a bit. “In a Greek ruin?”

Yusaku nods. “I thought it was strange but...”

He was too tired, at the time, to really give it much thought, but now he wonders about it. The dungeon was long but straightforward. Is it even possible to end up somewhere else? Is there more than one route? But then why is he the only one to find it? It doesn’t make sense.

Kusanagi leans back in his seat, arms crossing and expression contemplative. “There’s something else. I made a post of my own in the forums about the doll you found. I was hoping to draw the attention of other players and one person did comment, but a moderator deleted the entire thread and temporarily locked me out of posting for twenty-four hours.”

“Why?”

Kusanagi shakes his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t given a reason, but if it was just a matter of keeping the event prize a secret, I wouldn’t have been temp banned. Besides, other people made posts not long after I did and those are all still up.”

The two of them share a look.

“So you’re saying they’re hiding something.”

“SOL has always been shady. It wouldn’t surprise me.” Kusanagi leans forward. “Remember that incident three years ago with the tower? You weren’t in the game yet, but it was all over the news.”

Yusaku nods. “Mm.”

He remembers Link VRAINS was cut off from the rest of the world for three full days. At the time, they were having some kind of event with, from what he’s heard, a battle tower that mixed in PVP (player versus player) with PVE (player versus enemy). There was some kind of glitch in the coding (a virus, was the official statement), but everyone that died in the tower didn’t revive as they should have. Instead, the users all went comatose in the real world and their accounts could no longer be accessed by anyone, inside or out. It’s unknown how it all ended. Officially, SOL took the credit for isolating the virus and terminating it, which caused everyone comatose to awaken.

Rumors circulated, though. People claimed it wasn’t SOL but the users still left in the tower that shut the thing down.

“I’m not saying this is another situation like that one.” Kusanagi continues. He laces his fingers together and props up his elbows on the control panel. “But given SOL’s history with letting things slip under the radar, I don’t want to rule out the possibility that whatever you have is something dangerous. They’re under pressure to release the new area and I don’t want you getting hurt because of their negligence.”

“...I understand.”

Yusaku opens up his inventory without any prompting and drags out Ai. The little purple doll limply hangs between his fingers, eyes still vacant and lifeless as they stare up at the ceiling. He offers the thing to Kusanagi, who takes it with a wary eye and turns it over within his hands, inspecting it.

“Ai?” he questions faintly and raises an eyebrow at Yusaku. “I thought you said it didn’t have a name?”

“It didn’t. There was an option to rename it. So I did.”

Kusanagi snorts and Yusaku raises a brow of his own.

“What?”

Kusanagi waves a hand at him, a chuckle falling from his lips.

“Nothing, nothing.” he assures and sends Yusaku a wide grin. “It’s a cute name for the little guy. Good job.”

Yusaku’s eyes narrow at him. “Don’t tease me.”

His friend chuckles at him again and if Yusaku’s cheeks puff in indignation, he says nothing about it.

“It is weird how there’s no info attached to it.” Kusanagi continues. He sets a hand against his chin and rubs at his goatee in thought. “Hm… This might take me a while to scan. Do you mind if I hang on to this for a bit? Or did you want to wait for the results?”

Yusaku shakes his head and motions to the door. “Keep it. I’ll come back later. I think I’m going to scout out the new area. It’s still closed off, but I might find something there if I look.”

“Sounds good. Just...be careful, Yusaku.” Kusanagi says. He has a smile on his face, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t make me have to come rescue you from an evil monster.”

“I’ll be fine, Kusanagi-san. You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“I know, I know. I promise I’ll go to bed soon. I don’t have to be awake while my program does its thing.”

Yusaku huffs. As much as he’d like to believe that…

“I’ll be going then.”

Kusanagi sends him a parting wave as Yusaku turns toward the door and exits the building. He steps out onto Gaia’s streets in a hidden area near the town square. Player homes tend to be set off to the side and out of the way of busier parts of the city, but some players like the noise and opt for one nearest all the people. Thankfully, the area he and Kusanagi chose is empty aside from a few wandering players or the NPC or two. It makes leaving without being mobbed a lot easier. He’d hate for anyone to find out where he frequents. He likes his anonymity, after all

_‘The closest entrance into the new area is going to be on the northern side of the city. That’s not too far from here.’_

He sets out along Gaia’s back alleys to avoid running into other players and gradually makes his way to the northern part of the city, where there’s a road that leads outside the city walls. Most players, once they reach a certain level, tend to teleport rather than travel on foot or D-Board to other cities, but the fields in-between each place, though infested with monsters, is quite a sight to see and worth a journey on foot. It varies from place to place depending on area effects and most prominent magical elements, but Gaia, being a city of greenery and healing, is surrounded by grassy fields and lakes. It’s a nice place to walk through and if you’re a high enough level, the monsters are hardly a threat.

When he reaches the northern exit, he manages to slip through it without drawing attention to himself and sets out along a wide dirt path bordered by rows of daisies and other wild flora. His destination is a new fork in the path a little ways up ahead. Before the new area was teased with a mini-update in the form of a new road, this path used to only lead up into the clock city of Chronos. Yusaku doesn’t go there much unless it’s to party up with a certain Phantom Paladin and Assassin that frequents the area, but it’s not a bad place to visit, just a bit too crowded for his tastes.

_‘I wonder if they participated in the event, too.’_

It’s something to consider... Aside from Kusanagi, there’s no one else on his friends list he could even ask. He only has the three and if those two participated in the event, it’s possible they noticed something strange.

 _‘I’ll contact them later.’_ he decides and continues on.

It doesn’t take long for him to reach the forked path. There’s no signs designating which direction leads where, but he’s taken this route enough times to know it by heart and can recognize a difference when he sees one. Besides that, the difference in atmosphere between the two roads is obvious. While the one leading up into Chronos maintains the grassy fields, the open area, and the welcoming air, the one branching off towards where the Cyberse Sea will be is closed off, dark, and fills him with a sense of foreboding. Where there was once a hill with an overhanging tree, now there’s an incline leading down into a dark cave. The old tree now rests above the cave’s mouth, it’s foliage hanging down over the entrance like a blanket attempting to hide something from view.

This teaser area has been out for a few weeks and many have flocked to take a peek, but he’s yet to come here for a visit himself so this is all quite new to him. First impressions? It’s a bit on the spooky side.

Time to find out what this place is going to be like and maybe… Maybe he’ll find something here.

He brushes the curtain of leaves out of his way as passes under the hanging tree and walks into the mouth of the cave. Inside isn’t quite as dark as it looks outside, he finds. The dark rock surrounding him is illuminated in a soft, blue glow coming from various crystals embedded into the walls. They light the way fairly well and even though he still has a sense of unease, irrational though it seems, he feels a bit more comfortable about stepping into this place.

_‘I wonder how far this goes?’_

He follows the glow of the crystals as they lead the way deeper and deeper into the cave. There’s no branching pathways for him to get lost in, thankfully. It’s fairly straightforward, albeit winding and his footsteps echo in an eerie way. Several times he thinks he hears something, a separate pair of footsteps or unpleasant breathing coming from somewhere behind him, but whenever he stops and listens and glances over his shoulder, he sees nothing amiss and the cave plunges into silence. It bothers him because he doesn’t think he’s imaging things, but not finding anything sets him on edge even more. Despite this, he keeps walking and hopes he actually is alone.

Eventually, he comes to a dead end and with it, a blocked off path that presumably continues on to even deeper parts of the cave. The blocked off path is wide and the little he can see beyond its borders suggests it opens up into a bigger cavern.

He stops and crosses his arms, staring up at the blockade preventing him from traveling any further. It’s made entirely of wooden planks fastened together by silver nails, like something out of a cartoon, and right in the middle is a huge sign with a crudely drawn picture of a Kuriboh that has a yellow construction hat on its head.

_Sorry! We’re under construction! Please come again later! Kuriii!_

That’s all the sign says and Yusaku shakes his head at it.

_‘Is there anything I can look at besides this?’_

Aside from the glowing crystals, it’s surprisingly barren, even more so than he anticipated it would be. He eyes the boarded up path, the ridiculous sign, and the area around him, but he sees nothing of use. It’s just rock, gem, and the blue glow bathing everything is soft light. There is a small hole in the blockade, just big enough for a person to fit through, but even if he tries, Yusaku doubts he’d be able to pass through. SOL tends to set up invisible barriers to prevent access to unwanted trespassers. Even without the cartoonish setup they have here, he’s sure they put in countermeasures to prevent anyone from sneaking themselves in.

Outside of hacking, which isn’t something he’s going to do, he’s not getting in. Not now. Not until opening day.

He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. He doesn’t know what he expected to find by coming here, if anything. There’s really nothing here to see, so he ultimately wasted his time. The walk had been kind of nice, at least.

 _‘Maybe I should go back to Kusanagi-san.’_ he muses, eyes opening again. He stares up at the sign and his thoughts drift. _‘I can make sure he’s actually resting and then, Bessho-san wanted to eat cake…’_

Before he can decide what to do, a blur of yellow catches in the corner of his eyes. A cold wind rushes past him carrying faint whispers along the breeze and he turns, just in time, to see a strange, humanoid figure, coated in swirling yellow light, slip through the jagged hole in the blockade and disappear from sight.

He blinks, startled, and moves without thinking.

“Wait!”

He runs up to the hole, hesitates a moment, and then reaches out to grab the edges and attempt to squeeze through. He’s careful as he steps through, least he ends up pierced by sharp wood.

Nothing stops him when he does. He passes through with ease.

_‘I shouldn’t be here. I should leave. What am I doing?’_

Warning bells immediately echo in his mind as another cold draft blows against his skin. He shouldn’t have been able to enter this place. This shouldn’t be possible. In fact, he should turn right back around and forget all about that yellow figure he saw. It feels like trouble, like he’s blindly run into a trap. But, he doesn’t heed his own warnings or follow his own instincts and walks further in, as if in a trance.

Behind the blockade is an enormous cavern that opens into a sky full of twinkling stars and an ocean full of milky galaxies. Night has yet to fall within Link VRAINS, but here, within this mysterious cavern, night has come, perhaps eternally. The moon hanging in the sky is big and round and dyed in shades of blue. Its light reflects against the gently shifting sea down below with an otherworldly glow. Everything is cast in soft blue and looks like a living painting he can reach out and touch and hold.

Honestly, it’s quite beautiful. He’s never seen a place quite like this before, even within Link VRAINS.

_‘...might as well look around.’_

The rocky ground under his feet blends into a pale yellow sand as he ventures further in. As he listens for any more phantom sounds that might drift up behind him, he realizes there’s no background music whatsoever. In fact, there’s no noise at all aside from the gentle sound of waves hitting the sandy shore and the sound of his own feet kicking up sand as he walks. He doesn’t see any sign of a monster, either. They probably haven’t been added yet, though.

“...”

Another chilly wind blows against his spine and he hugs his arms to himself with a shiver. The air is pretty cold here, even for being near the sea. He’s not sure if it’s supposed to be like that or not, but for all he knows, this new area could have an ice element attached to it. If that turns out to be the case, he’ll have to consider wearing something a bit warmer. He does have a bunch of outfits he never uses stashed away.

_‘I don’t see that shadow anywhere. Did I imagine it?’_

He continues on further in until he reaches the edge of a small cliff overlooking the sea. The shore is down below and is pretty barren aside from the pale sand. He takes a moment to look around and sees more paths further ahead. Some parts seem to glitch, seem more code than ground. He’s curious, horribly so, but he frowns at them and shakes his head to himself.

He can’t. He shouldn’t. What if he gets caught or something worse happens? Continuing isn’t an option. Exploring any more could be disastrous. Whoever, _whatever_ , that yellow shadow he thought he saw is, it’s long gone now. That’s probably for the best, however, he will mention this to Kusanagi.

Something weird _is_ going on here. He’s not naive enough to believe that the yellow shadow and the different event dungeon aren’t related somehow.

He goes to move away from the edge and put this place behind him for now, to take a step away before his curiosity ensnares his senses and gets the better of him. But before he can turn around, take a step away from the edge of the cliff, and pretend he was never here, something palms against his back and slips up to grip at his shoulders.

And roughly _pushes_.

“!!”

He pitches forward and falls down to the sandy beach below. The sand doesn’t provide much cushion and when he hits, it _hurts_ . He lands at an awkward angle, right on his right wrist, and unbearable, burning pain shoots up his arm as something _snaps_. He can’t help the cry it forces out of him and his left-hand balls into a tight fist as his vision blurs with tears. Teeth sink into his bottom lip, enough to draw blood, but he can’t feel the pain from it above the white-hot pain stabbing his right wrist.

_‘What shoved me?’_

He manages to glance back up towards the cliff’s edge without hurting himself further and his breath catches when he see that yellow shadow from before leaning over the edge, head tilted. _Staring_.

“You…”

The yellow shadow lifts a hand and _waves_ down at him slowly before it disappears from sight.

No… He can’t let it get away! Especially not after this. He’s got to push himself up, do a quick heal to reset his bones and stop the pain, and then find a way to climb back up there, somehow. The shadow might be gone by then but still, he has to try.

It’s easier said than done.

Moving his wrist even slightly sends a wave of nausea crashing into his stomach and makes dark spots dance in his vision. He feels wetness on his cheeks and he’s crying, he realizes. There’s warmth trickling from bitten his lip, too. The pain is too much, way too much.

Didn’t he just twist his ankle only yesterday?

And now _this_?

_‘I can’t stay here. I have to get up.’_

Using his good hand, he grits his teeth and pushes himself up onto his knees. He then manages to stand but his world tilts and he sways, vision swimming as his stomach churns. He falls back against the cliff face (on his good arm, thankfully), still standing but feeling like he’ll collapse at any minute.

If he can just heal himself, he’ll be fine. The pain will stop, he’ll be able to move his wrist again without bile bubbling up his throat, and he can continue on without issue. He can leave, maybe track down that shadow if there’s any trace of it left behind.

_‘I’m too weak to use magic. I’ll have to use a potion.’_

He lifts his hand to call up his inventory and shakily scrolls through to find a good one, preferably one that will restore his health to full. When he finds what he’s looking for, a sense of relief hits him and he goes to drag it out of his inventory and into his hands.

But he hears a noise. Something splashes in the water as his good hand hovers over the item and he pauses, feeling trepidation, and looks up.

Rising out of the water is a great serpent with pale blue scales and a wide face. A fleshy, orange growth sprouts from its head and its mouth is wide with rows of ugly, yellowed teeth. It doesn’t have a name floating over its head, but he’d recognize this creature anywhere. It’s a monster based on a duel monsters card, the Divine Dragon Aquabizarre. He remembers seeing concept art of the thing back when SOL was actively teasing things for the new area. It’s supposed to be a creature that resides in the deeper parts of the ocean, but here it is, next to the shore.

Yusaku freezes, eyes wide, and watches as the thing remains still. Its fins shake a little and a low growl rumbles in its throat, but it does nothing more than watch him, waiting to see what he’ll do. It doesn’t seem to be aggressive, at least, otherwise it would have already attacked, but it’s not wandering away either and that’s a problem.

_‘What do I do?’_

He doesn’t dare move but standing here allowing his anxiety to build up is no good, either. He can’t fight in this condition, but maybe...maybe he can run? He chances a look away from the sea serpent and scans the beach for an opening he can take. He doesn’t see anything, not at first, but then he spots a small incline leading up from the beach a fair ways away. It’s a bit too far to run considering his injury, but if that’s the only chance he has, then so be it. He’ll take it.

His attention returns to the creature and he takes a slow, deep breath and exhales. Carefully, he lets his inventory fall away and takes a sidestep away.

The creature’s fins twitch, but it otherwise it doesn’t move.

Taking a shaky breath, he takes another step away and another and another still. The dragon’s head turns with each step, movements jerky like it’s lagging behind from a poor connection. Seeing that makes his heart quicken.

He doesn’t like that. He _really_ doesn’t like that.

_‘Just run. Just run for it!’_

Throwing all caution to the wind, he breaks out into a run. He keeps his injured wrist close to his chest to try and reduce any extra pain, but it still aches something awful and he feels like vomiting instead. Above him, the creature hisses, fins shaking as it follows his movements. Its mouth opens to an even wider degree, long body bent and water splashing around its massive body.

Then, it strikes.

It takes a dive at him, quick but not quite precise. Parts of its body glitch in and out of existence as it continues to lag back and forth. Because of that, it misses him entirely and crashes into the beach, making sand scatter in waves and the earth shake from the impact. He stumbles a bit but doesn’t fall and keeps running for that incline.

He’s close, so close. Just a little bit farther and he can escape the beach and find a hiding spot until-

Something wraps around his ankle, causing him to lose his balance.

“!!”

Instead of tripping and falling, however, whatever has hold of him quickly slithers up his leg and wraps around his waist tightly. It’s warm and wet and fits snug against his body. He tries to move, to break free, but finds he can’t no matter how hard he tries.

“Get off!”

He looks down and sees a thick, fleshy tentacle curled around his body. It’s rising up from the sandy beach and is slick with something slimy and is coated in sand. Using his good hand, he tries to pry it off, but it’s so slippery and disgusting he can’t get a good grip.

He doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like this. _He doesn’t like this._ **_He doesn’t like this._ **

_‘Let go! Just let me leave!’_

The tentacle continues to wind around his legs and waist and keep him rooted to the spot. He’s already weak from his injury and this is just sapping his strength even more. A glance at his health bar reveals he’s been inflicted with a poison status condition and his health bar is steadily dropping even more.

His breaths grow laboured, loud even to his own ears. He can still hear the sea serpent moving behind him, but it almost sounds faint, like a far-off dream.

_‘Don’t faint. Stay awake!’_

Even as he tells himself not to, he can feel his consciousness fading in time with his decreasing health bar.

This is bad… This is _bad_ …

He hears the serpent hiss behind him and he turns as best he can to see it rising up from the sand, preparing for another strike. With him trapped and defenseless like this, he knows the creature won’t miss and he can do nothing but watch as it dashes forward, mouth wide.

It occurs to him, very suddenly, in the moments before the creature hits, that he doesn’t know how dying in an unfinished area works. Where would he revive and would he at all?

_Bang! Bang!_

The sea serpent cries out in agony and flails back into the water as something drills into its eyes and blood gushes from its wounds. Yusaku watches as it writhes and thrashes wildly, fins seizing and body curling.

 _It’s blind_ , he realizes, somewhat amazed.

More gunshots ring out and hit the tentacle curled around his body. The shots are carefully aimed to not hit him, but blood still splatters all over the ground and paints his bodysuit in gore. The tentacle withers and writhes and almost doesn’t let him go, but more shots ring out, more blood splatters, and it gives him up and retreats back into the beach from whence it came.

His legs give out the moment it disappears and he falls to his knees, wincing from his injury. He’s been saved, somehow, but he can’t move and his health is still dropping.

He hears the click of a gun and the soft sound of something falling to the beach. He doesn’t look, doesn’t try to, but the voice that speaks to him sounds familiar enough that he gives them his attention.

“You again? This must be fate.” they say with a short chuckle.

They move around to kneel in front of him and Yusaku recognizes the white outfit and yellow eyes before even glancing up at the name.

Only there’s not one and he wonders about it but doesn’t get very far before he sways, vision swimming, and nearly falls over. The other player grabs him before he can, though, and keeps an arm around his back to hold him up. Yusaku falls against his chest and he closes his eyes so the world will stop moving.

“Poison, hunh…” the guy mumbles and his fingers lightly brush against Yusaku’s injured wrist. Yusaku hisses, though, because even that hurts. The guy’s hand jerks back and he sounds a bit spooked. “Sorry, I’m...not a healer, but hold on.”

There’s a slight shuffling, something moves, and then an opened vial is pressed to Yusaku’s lips.

“Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

He almost doesn’t. He feels too sick to even try and isn’t entirely certain he won’t throw it all back up the moment it slips into his system. But the guy doesn’t take the vial away and keeps a steady hold on him. So, Yusaku relents and takes a careful sip of the liquid.

It tastes like berries and goes down easily. A healing sensation washes over his injuries, making the pain dull and disappear, and it lifts the fog from his mind. Everything becomes more clear the more he drinks from the vial and when it’s completely empty, nothing hurts anymore. His health has been restored to full and the status condition removed with it.

“Better?”

Yusaku nods, flexing his wrist as he pulls out of the other player’s embrace. “Much better.”

He turns to eye the other player properly. His yellow eyes are unblinking underneath his glass mask and he has a shock of red hair with bullet shaped earrings dangling from his ears. There’s still no player name like he remembers there being before and that makes him frown a little, but he doesn’t have to voice this concern because the guy beats him to it.

“Revolver.” he introduces and gestures to the surrounding area. “This place is littered with glitches. The player names don’t show.”

Ah.

“...Playmaker.” Yusaku provides in return.

“Mm. I remember you from last night.” Revolver replies with. His lips slip into a smirk. “You have quite a reputation, but you’re a hacker, too? Aren’t you a catch~”

Yusaku’s eyebrows knit. “Why would you think that?”

He’s not wrong about the hacker part, but he says it so matter-of-factly that it strikes Yusaku as an odd thing to say. How would he even know that?

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you? This area is restricted.” he says, like it’s obvious and maybe it is. Still... “Only someone with a working knowledge of SOL’s programming could hack themselves into such a heavily guarded area.”

Yusaku starts shaking his head before Revolver even finishes his explanation.

“You’re wrong.”

And he definitely is on more than one count. This place wasn’t heavily guarded at all. What is he talking about?

“Oh?” Revolver seems more amused than anything. “How so?”

“I walked in.” Yusaku says and thinks back to the yellow shadow. Where was it now? Why did it push him? “ _Followed_ someone in.”

Revolver’s smirk dips into a frown and his expression pinches. Is that concern?

“ _Who_?”

His tone takes on an urgency that’s out of place and he asks his question so forcefully that Yusaku leans away a little.

“...I don’t know.”

And he really doesn’t. They had no face or any discernible features he could name or use to search for. He doesn’t bother talking about their shadowy appearance and says nothing about being pushed. He doesn’t know this Revolver guy at all and despite being rescued by him, Yusaku doesn’t particularly trust him. Just as Revolver said, only a hacker could get in here and it’s obvious that’s how he got in, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought the subject up so casually.

Revolver grabs his shoulders. “What did they look like? Tell me that.”

But Yusaku keeps his lips sealed and when it becomes apparent he won’t speak, Revolver huffs and lets him go.

“You’re a stubborn one.” he mumbles and tsks, expression disappointed. He shakes his head a little. “Cute but stubborn. I wouldn’t normally mind, really. That can be fun, too, but you’re making my life difficult here.”

Yusaku ignores that. “Why did you save me?”

Revolver eyes him, eyebrow raised. “Do I need a reason to help someone?”

No, but that’s not much of an answer. Doesn’t explain the flirtatious comments either.

“...I’m leaving.” Yusaku states and moves to stand.

If he has no information to offer other than passing, flirty comments, then there’s no point continuing on with this conversation. Yusaku isn’t going to talk and Revolver isn’t either. So, they might as well parts ways here.

“Good luck with that.” Revolver moves to stand as well. He sets a hand against his hip and gestures at the air with a lazy wave of his hand. “You’ll have to hack your way back out and if you really didn’t hack your way in, you’ll need help leaving.”

Yusaku considers that for a moment. “...I can use an escape rope.”

Revolver sighs. “Do you _really_ think that’s going to work in an area like this?”

There’s silence between them and then Yusaku’s lips press together as Revolver’s slip back into a smirk.

Damn him. He’s probably right.

“...then I’ll logout.”

Revolver looks a tad exasperated and doesn’t even need to say anything this time. He conveys everything in his expression and Yusaku can feel his resolve weakening.

He huffs.

Revolver offers him his hand. “Do you want out or not? As cute as you are, I will just leave you here. If it helps, I won’t do anything to you. I promise.”

The fact he says he won’t do anything means he’s thinking about it and the deadpan stare Yusaku levels on the guy’s hand is enough to convey his disbelief.

Still…does he even have a choice?

He hesitates but reaches out and slips a hand into his. A temporary partnership is all this is. Once he’s out, that’s it. He’ll logout immediately.

“...alright.” Yusaku manages to say. “Just for now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if anyone can guess who the two players Yusaku mentioned in his narrative are? I'll give you a tiny hint: they're both from a different YGO series~


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm only like, two weeks late //brick'd
> 
> i apologize btw. had a bunch of stuff going on at home and then i just plain didn't feel like writing. i had this done but it needed a lot of editing cuz i just didn't like the flow of it and yea. it happens sometimes, i suppose.

_‘It’s too crowded...’_

Yusaku steps into the dimly lit walls of Pale Moon with his lips pressed into a hard line and his shoulders tensely squared, on edge, bracing himself for the inevitable. Flickering candle flames within wrought iron lanterns and tiny glowing orbs of light hovering in the air cast the inside of the building in a warm, orange light. Dark, polished wood stretches from floor to ceiling in a pattern of straight, parallel panels and various wooden tables and booths line the walls and sit in clustered arrangements across the floor. There’s just enough room between each table for tavern patrons and NPC workers to navigate themselves through, but even then, it’s somewhat of a tight squeeze and one Yusaku isn’t particularly looking forward to walking himself through.

_‘Just because he helped me escape doesn’t mean I owe him an explanation on why I was there.’_

This tavern in particular is fairly popular among locals for its range of strange drink concoctions, both alcoholic and non. It’s a pretty big place, one of the largest in the city, in fact, and as per the usual, it’s filled to the brim with other players of all types donned in colorful attire. Most sit huddled together in party groups, chatting and laughing over drinks and snacks as they plot out their next adventure or about their real world lives. But some sit alone, mostly just those seated towards the back where a bar sits against the back wall. Some are slumped over the bar table, but some are upright and alert and one person, in particular, catches his eye. Despite the vast number of people, he can still make out that white tailcoat and red hair waiting at the bar’s end.

_‘...coming here can be my thanks.’_

Yusaku...really doesn’t want to be here. Crowds like this are a chore to handle when they focus their attention onto a point (namely, him) and although he’s yet to alert anyone to his presence, it’s only a matter of time until someone looks up and realizes who he is. But despite the twinge of anxiety poking at his insides, he can’t bring himself to leave just yet.

Last night, after the excitement of almost dying from a combination of poison and being eaten alive died down, he allowed Revolver to led him to safety with no further trouble crossing their paths. The few monsters that had appeared didn’t respawn and although they could still hear the sea serpent's wailing and thrashing about from being shot in the eyes, it didn’t try to come after them. They made it to the entrance, found the hole Yusaku had come through to be blocked, and after a bit of meddling with the barrier code by Revolver, they both escaped back into the glowing cave.

And Yusaku logged out with no further prompting or conversation.

Just before he did, however, Revolver extended an invitation to him with a promise of handing over whatever information he has about the new game update and although Yusaku still doesn’t really trust the guy, a lead is a lead and he has to follow through.

Never mind that this particular lead is somewhat flirty and borders on being insufferable.

Holding back a sigh at the thought, Yusaku steels himself, walks into the crowd of people, and heads toward the back of the tavern where the bar sits, where _Revolver_ sits. It doesn’t take long for someone to notice him when he begins to quietly navigate through the tables, either. As Revolver mentioned once before, Playmaker has built up quite a reputation for himself as an elite player and others want a chance to play with someone like that. Being approached for this reason isn’t new. It’s just overwhelming. However, he has a stroke of luck because the few that take notice and attempt to stand and greet him take one look at his sour expression and plop right back into their seats. Their smiles turn sheepish as they turn away from him and go back to their previous conversations, expressions turning nervous as they pretend to not notice him as he passes by.

_‘I wish I had an invisibility spell.’_

Unfortunately, a Beast Tamer with a secondary healing class has no means of obtaining something like that. It’s a good thing then, Yusaku thinks, that his expression is scaring people away. Because perhaps, with his extra unfriendly aura radiating off him in waves, people will stay away and his meeting with Revolver will carry on uninterrupted. And perhaps, just maybe, it’ll affect Revolver, too, and he’ll actually be a bit more cooperative instead of the cryptic, know-it-all bastard he has been. But as Yusaku approaches the end of the bar, he sees his would-be date seated atop a bar stool with his back pressed against the edge of the table and a glass of something a dark burgundy in his hand and quickly realizes that won’t be the case.

It takes all his willpower not to turn back around and leave when the two of them make eye contact and Revolver’s face goes from a disinterested, almost bored expression to one of amusement.

“You know, I’m starting to think you don’t like me.” Revolver greets, tone a shade of teasing, before he takes a slow sip of his drink. Yusaku hadn’t noticed at first, but his glass mask is missing. He’s somehow even more intimidating without it. “That’s quite a frown you have there. I save you...mm, twice, was it? You could be a little friendlier...mm. Never got a thank you for either of those saves, by the way. ”

And at this rate, he never would. Yusaku initially wanted to, back before he knew the guy, back when he had time to think more about it alone, but Revolver manages to be so incredibly infuriating without even trying that it makes Yusaku lose any and all desire to be sincere.

“I wouldn’t classify waking someone from a nap as saving them.” he replies with, arms crossing. His voice is calm but has an edge to it. “If you’re fishing for praise, you won’t get any from me.”

A chuckle slips past Revolver’s lips. “Most would. You’re rather brutally to the point, though. It’s refreshing.”

He sets his mostly empty glass down atop the bar table and stands. Then, with a flick of his wrist and wave of his fingers, his mask shimmers back into existence like it never left in the first place.

“There’s some empty booths in the back. I’d rather no one eavesdrop.” He turns away from the bar and motions for Yusaku to follow him as he steps away. “If you’ll follow me...”

A private booth sounds infinitely better than standing around in a crowd or sitting at a bar with drunk players, so Yusaku doesn’t argue and allows himself to be lead further back into the tavern.

“What’s Playmaker doing with _that_ guy?”

“No fair! I wish Playmaker would party with _me_. So lucky…”

“Eh? Isn’t that…?”

A few whispers reach his ears and Yusaku sends brief glances at the occupied tables around them, only to notice the two of them receiving strange looks from other players as they pass. They vary from annoyance to awe to...something else he can’t quite place. Revolver doesn’t seem bothered by it or even seems to notice the stares at all, but something about it eats at Yusaku. There’s something in the way some of the other players frown and the wary way they eye Revolver that leaves Yusaku with this sinking feeling that they know something he doesn’t. It could just be a sense of confusion (or jealousy, as Kusanagi likes say) because as Playmaker, Yusaku is rarely seen accompanying others despite repeated party invites, but when he thinks about it, someone like Revolver likely has a reputation of his own. The new area can’t have been the first time the guy has hacked his way into something within Link VRAINS and then, there _are_ rumors about a seedy underground within the network, the sort of place cheaters and black hat hackers hang out in.

Who's to say Revolver isn’t one of them…?

Yusaku shakes his head a little to himself and decides to ignore the stares. He’ll look into him later. Kusanagi should have an idea and maybe even Yusaku’s friends in Chronos knew something?

When they reach a set of empty booths, Revolver picks one at random and they slide into their seats across from each other. Revolver then waves a hand at the table and a translucent green screen pops up between them. On it is a prompt asking if they would like to make their booth private and Revolver selects yes.

Nothing noticeable changes. The faint chatter within the tavern can still be heard, but if anyone were to try eavesdropping, they wouldn’t be able to hear a sound no matter how loud he or Revolver became.

Essentially, all making a booth private does is create a temporary party chat restricted to those seated at the booth. Most taverns have options like this in place and Yusaku particularly likes it because it means he needn’t force himself into someone’s party or friends list just to have the private chat option available to him.

The moment the private chat is set up and their voices are blanketed by a soundproof barrier, Revolver’s amused little smirk drops and his demeanor changes completely.

“I’m only going to say this once.” he starts. His eyes narrow at Yusaku as he folds his arms atop the table. There’s no hint of a tease, just a tone of pure seriousness and slight edge to his words. “Stay out of the Cyberse Sea, Playmaker.”

Yusaku blinks at the sudden change but then his eyebrows knit. That sounded more like an order than a request and quite frankly, Yusaku has no intention of obeying.

“Why?”

“Because it’s not safe. You were even gravely injured.” Revolver raises a brow at him. “I shouldn’t have to state the obvious. You saw it yourself.”

“What I saw was an unfinished area. Of course it’s not safe.” That frown tugging at Yusaku’s lips steadily deepens. Yes, he was injured and if Revolver had not of shown up when he did...still. “It’s not supposed to be accessible unless you _cheat_.”

Revolver’s little smirk returns. “Then I guess we’re a pair of cheaters, aren’t we?”

“I never touched the coding.”

“So you say…”

Yusaku pointedly turns his head away. “Give me one good reason not to leave and go back just to spite you.”

Revolver’s smirk drops and he tsks. “Look. There’s a lot going on you don’t understand. SOL is under pressure to release the update within the next few days and they’re cutting corners. It’s going to be a disaster so do us both a favor and stay out.”

“Then explain.” Yusaku’s arms cross and he leans back in his seat, eyes narrowed at the other player coolly. “I have a reason for going in. I have no reason to listen to you.”

“And that reason would be?”

“A secret.”

Revolver huffs. “Are you always this stubborn or do I really aggravate you that much?”

“Both.” Yusaku’s gaze wanders away from Revolver and towards the front door. “Answer the question or I’m leaving.”

There’s a sigh and then Revolver leans back in his seat as well.

“I’m not going into a history lesson over SOL’s less than noble practices, but the short version is that the update isn’t ready. There’s an...issue with the coding they refuse to fix.”

Yusaku’s attention leaves the door and he watches as Revolver’s lips press together, expression vaguely grim. He doesn’t know if this is an act or not (and really, what would Revolver gain from lying about this?). If things had been different and Yusaku never encountered the alternate dungeon or the yellow shadow, he probably would have written this off as nonsense. However...

“A system-breaking bug would lose them business. It doesn’t make much sense to leave something like that in. What do they gain from it?”

“Good question…”

Yusaku’s eyes widen just a tad in surprise. “...you don’t know.”

Revolver lets out a quiet sigh and offers Yusaku a tiny shrug. “Not entirely. I know they’re after something valuable that was lost inside Link VRAINS and that the Cyberse Sea is a key component to retrieving it, but I’ve yet to discover what they gain from endangering the playerbase.”

Retrieving something? Like what?

_“I’m worried you found something you shouldn’t have.”_

Kusanagi’s words from yesterday echo in his mind suddenly. He remembers the concern and how Kusanagi was silenced after trying to publicly seek answers. Then he remembers his experience in the cave. He’d been vaguely paranoid that something was following him and then the yellow shadow appeared from out of nowhere and tried to get rid of him in area he couldn’t be certain he could return from.

Maybe it’s mere coincidence, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but if SOL really is trying to cover something up and find something without the playerbase being none the wiser, wouldn’t they know about the alternate dungeon, too? Wouldn’t they know who went in?

And would they try to silence whoever did?

A chill creeps up his spine at the thought and he shivers. He tries to ignore it, but Revolver is just a little too perceptive and gives him a peculiar look.

“Is something wrong?” he asks. “You’re shivering.”

Change the subject. Revolver doesn’t need to know about the doll or alternate dungeon. Not yet.

Yusaku shakes his head and wraps his arms around himself. “It’s just a little cold in here…”

A faint frown makes its way to Revolver’s lips. “No. It’s not. They keep the temperature in these places constant.”

Yusaku’s eyes narrow and he changes the subject. “If you know so much about how SOL operates then why tell me this in the first place? If it’s that dangerous, why not tell everyone?”

Revolver eyes him for a moment, likely deciding whether to allow the change or not, but he relents, eventually, with a slow shake of his head.

“With no proof? Do you think anyone would believe me? Everything I have is circumstantial, at best, and if I present it to the public as is, I’ll be deleted on the spot. You, on the other hand, were actually there.”

Revolver leans forward then, expression a bit sour.

“You also, assuming you aren’t lying, presumably saw someone and won’t tell me anything about them. Information like that is valuable to me. That’s reason enough to talk to you.”

He could tell Revolver about the yellow shadow, but what good would that do? Other than it being murderous and faceless, there’s not much else to talk about. It targeted him, tried to get him killed, but that doesn’t mean it did those things with a clear plan in mind. It could have done it as a means to throw him off its trail rather than as a preemptive strike. He really knows nothing about it.

Still… He has something to bargain with, doesn’t he? Revolver seems to know a lot more than he should for someone who, by all appearances, is simply an average player with hacking abilities. If Yusaku can strike a deal and get him to talk first, then he’ll be a bit closer to figuring out what happened during his time in the event dungeon.

“...assuming I’m not lying,” Yusaku starts, head tilting slightly. “what will you give me in exchange? My information isn’t free.”

Revolver raises an eyebrow and leans against the table, face held in his hand and lips slipping back into that amused smirk.

“Well, that depends.”

“On?”

“On what you want, of course. Money, network keys, etcetera.” It’s hard to tell where he’s looking with the lack of pupils, but his head tilts down a little, like he’s eyeing something on Yusaku’s chest. “Or if you’d prefer something a little more...physical and intimate, I might be willing to compromise with you~”

This again...

“...information.” Yusaku decides he’s not going to respond to that teasing comment. “I want details.”

Revolver’s smirk slips a little and he looks a bit disappointed. “All business and no fun. What a shame… Fine. An information exchange it is then.”

He sits back in his seat and crosses one leg over the other, arms crossed and back straight as his expression changes into something more neutral.

“But on one condition.” he continues and holds up a finger. “We take turns. I answer your questions and then you answer mine. Sound fair?”

Yusaku doesn’t know how he feels about that, but if it gets them somewhere, then so be it.

“...alright.”

Revolver hmphs at him but nods.

“Now, I believe you wanted to know why it’s dangerous? I already told you it’s not safe because of an issue with the coding. Isn’t that answer enough?”

“That doesn’t tell me anything. How would you even know about it?”

“Well...there was a beta testing period a while back.” he admits hesitantly. “Not many people know about it because it was invite only and even then, just to moderators and people already on SOL’s payroll.”

Yusaku raises an eyebrow at him. “So you’re saying you work for them?”

Revolver tuts. “Nuh-unh, Playmaker. It’s my turn to ask and I’d like to know about the person you claimed to have followed.”

Oh, so this is how he wants to play this. Well, two can play this game. If he’s not going to make this easy, then Yusaku would make things just as difficult.

Yusaku shrugs. “I don’t know anything about them.”

Revolver’s expression becomes strained and he looks like he’s trying very hard not to let himself get angry.

“That’s not an-”

“Do you work for SOL?” Yusaku interrupts. “That’s the only thing that makes sense based on the information you provided me, which is odd considering you don’t have a moderator title attached to your name.”

Moderators all have special title icons attached to their player names that distinguish them from normal players. It’s helpful for new players who have yet to learn who to go to for help, but as Link VRAINS is such a huge place, naturally there exist moderators no one knows about. And Revolver’s name is neither familiar nor does he have the special icon.

“No, but someone I know does.”

Interesting…

“My turn and let me be more specific.” Revolver continues and he sends Yusaku this look, like he’s daring him to give him another non-answer. “What did this person you followed look like? I won’t ask for a name since those were glitched out.”

He probably wouldn’t like the answer or doubt him even more… Oh well.

“They didn’t really have any distinguishing features. They were taller than me and was just...yellow all over. The color also swirled like a spell.”

Revolver frowns and sets a hand against his chin in thought. “A disguise then?”

Yusaku hums. “Most likely.”

Revolver sighs and sets a hand against his temple like he’s getting a headache. “Of course they’d wear a disguise… Things can’t just be simple, can they.”

Yusaku doesn’t know what to say to that so he continues on with his questions.

“Who do you know at SOL that would willingly pass this information on to you? Isn’t that a breach of contract?”

“It doesn’t matter, at this point.” Revolver says with a shake of his head. “As I said, I don’t work for them so I’m under no obligation to keep their secrets. Besides, the beta participation contract itself never had a clause that prevented participants from speaking of glitches. We just couldn’t take pictures or leak information that would give players an edge.”

Yusaku eyes him suspiciously. “ _We?_ ”

The way Revolver spoke very heavily implies something Yusaku wants clarification on. He said he doesn’t work for SOL, but he speaks of the beta participation period as if he himself was involved in it.

Revolver’s mouth opens but he hesitates and closes it. He takes a moment to stare down at the table before a sigh leaves him and his shoulders sag, as if in defeat.

“Mm. I...participated in the beta.” he admits and his lips twist. “The one who was originally invited couldn’t go and to make a long story short, I was allowed to take their place. I won’t go into detail about it, but I found discrepancies with the coding and ran into unusual problems during the testing period. I told them about it, naturally, but my report was ignored. Nothing has changed.”

Revolver shifts uncomfortably, like he’s admitted more than he meant to, and clears his throat before Yusaku can continue to pepper him with questions.

“You’re skipping, though. Did this yellow avatar say anything to you? Did it _do_ anything?”

Revolver’s story sounds more and more unbelievable the more Yusaku hears it. Blindly trusting in him is not an option, but somehow, Yusaku doesn’t think he’s lying at all. Keeping details to himself, yes, but outright lying? Yusaku doesn’t think so.

And he supposes, given the fact Revolver let slip more than intended, Yusaku could do the same in return.

“They never spoke.” Yusaku answers with a shake of his head. “They did...mm. You found me injured, right? That was their fault.”

It’s Revolver’s turn to look confused and he sounds incredulous when he speaks. “They _attacked_ you?”

“Mm. I wasn’t going to explore deeper than the entrance, but they pushed me in and broke my wrist before I could leave. Then that sea monster attacked me. The rest you know.”

Revolver looks disturbed by that and his face pinches in anger.

“Going so far as to attack another player… Hmph. I’m not surprised.” He shakes his head and tsks. “It has to be someone working for SOL. Although hiding their identity is strange. It could be a third party instead, but it’s hard to say without more information on them. Do you really have nothing else?”

The alternate dungeon and event item flash through his mind, but he chooses to keep that to himself.

“Not about them, no.”

Revolver’s raises an eyebrow. “Oh? So you know something else then?”

Instead of answering, Yusaku remains silent. He’s starting to feel tired from the long day and this is a lot of information to take in at once. It’s technically his turn to ask a question anyway and he’s under no obligation to answer this one yet (if at all).

“You’re not going to answer me, are you?” Revolver asks with a sigh. “That’s fine, I suppose. It’s getting rather late anyway and I have a prior engagement.”

Speaking of prior engagements, his aunt is probably wondering what he’s up to. He told her he was meeting with someone in Link VRAINS, but would be back in time for dinner. Today was another early day for her so she was home much earlier than she was yesterday.

 _Not pulling another all-nighter? I’m flattered Playmaker would take time out of his busy schedule to have dinner with me~_ , she had said with an amused titter.

He wants to ask Revolver more questions, but they may as well wait until another time. How to stay in contact with him is the issue though...

Without much of a warning, a popup notification appears in Yusaku’s peripheral vision.

It’s a friend request.

From Revolver.

He blinks up at the other player questioningly.

“What?” Revolver says with a shrug. “I want to stay in contact with you. This is the best way to do it.”

Yusaku remains silent as his attention slowly returns to the notification. There’s only two choices available. Accept and Decline.

He hits the Decline button after a moment, much to Revolver’s exasperation.

“Playmaker, don’t be stubborn. I’m not that much of an asshole. Just accept the request.”

He receives another one but instantly declines it, both with the Decline button and a shake of his head.

“I don’t accept friend requests from someone I’ve never partied with.” is his explanation when Revolver just stares at him, readying another request. “No exceptions.”

Revolver lets out this heavy, aggravated sigh and presses a hand to his forehead.

“You really _are_ a cold beauty. The rumors didn’t lie.” He spends a moment staring down at the table before he glances back up at Yusaku. “Alright, how about this? You and I form a party and go on a quest together tomorrow. We can learn more about each other and then at the end of it, we swap friend IDs. Deal?”

Yusaku opens his mouth to refuse but he pauses and thinks it over.

Revolver has insider information. It’s just the right kind Yusaku can use to help figure out what’s going on, too. He doesn’t quite trust the guy yet, but he doesn’t think Revolver’s lying, either. Whatever he has to say, it’s at least worth listening to. Yusaku doesn’t like the thought of going on another adventure with this guy alone (and Kusanagi would likely fuss over him if he knew all the details about this arrangement), but...he can try it and see what happens.

“...that’s fine.”

“Good.” Revolver looks momentarily relieved, like he was worried Yusaku would reject him again, before that smirk returns to his face. “Let’s meet back here around noon. Say, 12 o’clock?”

Yusaku doesn’t have school tomorrow and doesn’t have any other plans. That works. So he hums in response and Revolver takes his leave.

“It’s been a pleasure, Playmaker~”

His avatar shimmers into pixels as he logouts, leaving Yusaku to his own devices.

“...”

Yusaku remains where he’s at and stares at the empty seat across from him, thinking, weighing his options.

_‘...he never said I had to come alone.’_

With that thought in mind, he calls up his friend list and taps at one in particular that’s still listed as Online. He then places a hand against his ear and initiates a call. It takes a moment, but then a familiar voice echoes from the other end, tone surprised.

“Yusaku? You’re up late.” comes their greeting. There’s a pause and a short laugh from the other end. “Shun says hi, by the way. It’s good to hear from you.”

Yusaku smiles faintly. It has been a while since they’ve last quested together or even spoken. It’s a shame the three of them live so far away.

“Mm. I’m sorry for the unexpected call, though, Yuto.”

“You know I don’t mind.” Yuto replies. His tone sounds a bit concerned now, though. “You don’t usually call this late, though. Is something wrong?”

Yusaku’s faint smile drops. “It’s hard to explain...but I wanted to ask a favor, if you’re up to it.”

He’s not sure how much he wants to explain because he knows if he says too much, Yuto will insist on getting involved in whatever is going on. Yusaku doesn’t want to endanger the few friends he has, but at the same time, if he says too little, Yuto will pick up on it.

Yuto hums. “Sure, but only if you tell me what’s wrong first. You sound really tired… Ah. Shun wants to know, too. Mind if he joins our call?”

He and Shun are a pair, those two. They’re hardly seen online without the other. Yuto has a soft disposition and is easy to get along with. Shun, on the other hand, is rather standoffish and is a bit harder to know, but once he sees someone as a friend, he’s very protective of them.

“Go ahead.”

There’s a little echoing blip and then another voice joins their conversation.

“Is someone giving you a hard time again? Do I need to scare them off?”

Shun’s greeting, despite sounding completely serious, pulls soft laughter from Yuto and Yusaku shakes his head a little in amusement.

“Not exactly…” Yusaku leans back and lets out a soft sigh. “This may sound strange but...do either of you know of a user named Revolver?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's juice
> 
> revolver was drinking juice
> 
> a big plot twist, i know


End file.
